Dielectric breakdown behavior of ferroelectric HfO2 capacitors by constant voltage stress studied by in situ laser-based photoemission electron microscopy

In situ laser-based photoemission electron microscopy observations with time-dependent dielectric breakdown measurements of TiN/Hf0.5Zr0.5O2(HZO)/TiN ferroelectric capacitors were performed to reveal the dielectric breakdown (DB) mechanism. We succeeded in visualizing the hard DB spots through the top electrode. We found that capacitors with short- and long-lifetime distributions were broken down near and far from the edge of the capacitors, respectively. This indicates that the DB is either topography-dependent or film-quality-dependent. This work demonstrates an effective method of detecting DB in a non-destructive manner to provide an insight for achieving higher endurance HfO2-based ferroelectric capacitors.